Treble action for accordions



Jan. 31, 1950 w. B. AHERN ET AL 2,495,913

TREBLE ACTION FOR ACCORDIONS Filed Jan. 24, 1947 ZW/M@ /97 ams/i215.

Patented Jan. 3l, `1950 TREBLE ACTION FOR ACCORDIONS' William B. Ahernand Albert J. Walt, De Kalb',

Ill. assignors` to The Rudolph Wurlitzer Com.- panyf, Chicago, Ill. a.corporation Application' `lanuary 24, 1947, Serial N'o. 724,166

L Claims.

' l This invention relates to a key construction with. its valvelift asusedwith the treble action ofv an accordion.

It is the object of the invention tov provide a finger key for use withthe treble action in a piano accordion wherein the key structurecomprises a single sheet metal` stamping terminating in an integral.valve lift formed therewith, the keybody to provide a rigid support fora plastic key` face.

One feature ofthe invention resides in. a bendable juncture between thevkeybody and the valve lift, wherein the keybody and liftare capable ofrelative adjustment in the plane. of their opera.- tion by bending ofthe metal at their juncture-` Another feature of the invention residesin the provision of a spring lockA associated with the keybody forpivotally mounting the key and; valve lift upon a pivot rod to provide asnap-on mounting such as to. permit of convenient removal andreplacement.

Another feature of the invention resides in the. arrangementA of thercompression spring: for yieldably maintainingv the key in its normalposition under spring tension, and wherein said spring is formed with asnap-on anchor in association with a notched spring rail.

A further feature of the invention resides in an eccentric screwadjustment: between the metal keybody and its plastic key face for.adjusting the outer end of the key face laterally relative thereto,whereby the key faces of the keyboard may be arranged in equally spacedrelation.

Another feature of the invention resides inthe arrangement and formationofthe key guide rail in. which the guide lugs formed on the, ends of thekeys.- may be guided and cushioned against laterali. displacement, therebeing associated therewith a cushion strip carried by a metal frame forreceiving and cushioning the impact of the actuated ends. of the keys.

The. full nature ofthe inventionv will be, understood from theaccompanying drawings and the following. description and claims:

Fig, I is a central vertical section through one unit of thetreble-faction and; a portion of the treble action valve box.

1lg.,2 is. a plan view showing the underside of the finger keyconstruction with a portion of the valvev lift removed.

Fig., 3 is aperspective view of the keybody and associated' valve liftextension thereof.

Cal

Fig. 4 is a view showing a portion ofl the vkey guide railA taken on theline 4-4 of Fig. 1.

In the drawings there is shown a portion of an 'Ie having the. usualopenings to the reed boxes controlled by the respective valves I I, eachvalve being secured to thel end of a valve lift I2. For operating thevalves through the valve lifts there is plurality of treble keys carriedby the key bed I3 extending at an angle to the valve. plate Ill uponwhich the upstanding lbrackets I4 are mounted. Carried by the bracketsI4 there is a horizontal hinge rod [5i upon which the treble keysy arehingedly supported.

The piano keys comprise a metal body I6 toi-med of a sheet metalstamping integral with the valve lift I2. Said' bod-y is formed with aflat upper surface and downwardly flanged side portions il, the hat'upper surface being joined to the valve lift along one edge thereof asindicated at I8-, with a right angle bend. Thus, the hat upper surfaceof the keybodyy extends in. a horizontal plane as compared with avertical plane inv which the valve lift'. extends. Substantially at thejuncture, as indicated at I8, the nat upper surface of the keybodyy isbendable transversely thereof for adjusting they angular relation ofthe.` lift and thereby effect proper seating of the valve II with thekeybody lying in its proper plane.

The flanged side portions of the keybody terminate adjacent the junctureI8 with the valve liftb in a forwardly extending hook portion I9 toprovide a tight but removable slip-on fit over a bushing 20 rotatablycarried on the hinge rod between the armsof the bracket. I4.

" Rigidly secured to the underside. of the keybody adjacent its hookportion I9 there, isa nat f hinge spring 2l' secured thereto, saidspring being looped atV 22` to partiallyy embrace the bushing 2D underspring tension, and terminating in a curved camming portion 23.. Thus,the key may be readily mounted upon the hinge rodr bushing by pushingitv in place with sufficient force to cause the camming portion 23 ofrthe spring to ilex it downwardly until it snaps over the bushlng and'thereby locks the keybody and valve. lift in pivotal relation to thevalve plate and key bed. They mayv be readily removed by pullingoutwardly until the force overcomes the tension of the spring,causingitl to flex away from the bushing to release the key structure.

Mounted on the key' bed I3 there is a spring .rail 2li having aplurality of spaced grooves indicated at 25, extending transversely ofits upper surface, one forA each key. For yieldingly retaining theindividual keys in their normal' position under spring tension there isaA compression spring'26 looped intermediate its ends and having one armformed with a reverse bend 21 adjacent one end thereof adapted to snapinto and be retained by a slot 28 in the upper surface of the keybody.The opposed end of said spring is curved at 29 to snap into one of thegrooves and in the spring rail 24.

Carried by the keybody I6 there is an ivorylike plastic key face 30 of ahollow form U-shaped in cross section terminating in a solid portionoverlying the keybody towards its juncture I8 and pivotally securedthereto by a screw 3 I, and having a filler block 32 for receiving ascrew threaded camming head 33. Said block 32 is also adapted to receivea locking screw 34 for securing the key face to the other end of the keybody. For camming adjustment by the camming head 33 the keybody isprovided with anelongated slot 35 in which the eccentric camming head 33extends for rotation relative thereto in a manner to provide foradjustable displacement of the key face laterally of the keybody.Y Topermit of Asuch lateral displacement for adjustment, the locking screwS9 extends through a transversely arranged elongated slot 36 in thekeybody.

Carried by the key bed i3 along the forward edge thereof there isprovided a key guide rail 3". stamped of sheet metal and adapted to berigidly secured to the key bed. Said guide rail is provided with araised forwardly extending ange portion 38 spaced upwardly from the keybed and terminating in a plurality of tongues 39 spaced from each other.Said tongues extend along the forward edge of the key bed under and inline with the ends of the key faces. Each of the tongues 39 has atubular sleeve 40 of felt slipped thereover so that the space betweenthe tongues acts as a guide for maintaining proper spacing of the keyswhile permitting actuation thereof. For this purpose the end of each keyface 30 is anged downwardly to provide a curved end portion 4iterminating in a reduced guide lug 42 extending between and having itsbearing against the felt guide sleeves 4G on the guide rail. Thedownward movement of the free end of the key is limited a shoulder 93striking the tongues 39 of said rail and its engagement with a feltcushion strip 34 mounted longitudinally of the flange portion 33adjacent the tongues 39.

From the foregoing it will be observed that relative adjustment betweenthe keys and the Valve lifts may be effected by bending the fiat uppersurface of the keybody adjacent the juncture I8 to thereby assure properseating of the valves with the keys lying in their proper plane. Lateraladjustment of the key spacing is provided by adjustment of the cammingheads 33. By reason of the snap-on mounting by the hinge spring 2i, aswell as the snap-on retention of the compression spring 2S, the keybodywith its key face and the valve lift may be snapped into and out ofplace in a convenient manner.

The invention claimed is:

LA treble action accordion key comprising a metal keybody, a plastic keyface secured over said keybody, means for pivotally mounting saidkeybody to the action, means for pivotally securing said key face tosaid keybody adjacent its pivotal mounting, an eccentric memberrotatable in said key face extending through an aperture of said keybodyfor lateral adjustment of said key face thereon about their pivotalconnection, and means for locking the adjusted end of said key face tosaid keybody after adjustment.

2. A treble action accordion key comprising a metal keybody element,means for pivotally 4 mounting said keybody element to the action, aplastic key face element pivotally secured to said keybody elementadjacent its pivotal mounting, an adjusting member rotatably mounted onone of said elements having an eccentric head engageable with the otherelement for displacing said elements laterally about their pivotalconnection upon rotation of said member, and means for locking saidelements in their laterally adjusted relation.

3. A treble action accordion comprising a metal keybody having a flatupper portion with downwardly extending side walls terminating in slots,a.' hinge rod on said action for pivotal engagement by the slotted endsof said side walls, the flat upper portion of said keybody having anannular extension thereof bent at right angles to provide an integralvalve lift and bendable transversely thereof for valve lift adjustment,a plastic key face pivotally secured over said keybody adjacent thepivotal mounting thereof, an eccentric adjusting member carried by saidkey face for adjusting it laterally of said keybody about their pivotalconnection, and means for securing the end of said keybody to said keyface. I

4. A treble action accordion comprising a metal keybody having a flatupper portion with downwardly extending side walls terminating in endslots, a hinge rod on said action for pivotal engagement by the slottedends of said side walls, the at upper portion of said keybody having anannular extension thereof bent at right angles to provide an integralvalve lift and bendable transversely thereof for valve lift adjustment,a plastic key face pivotally secured over said keybody adjacent thepivotal mounting thereof, an eccentric adjusting member carried by saidkey face for adjusting it laterally of said keybody about their pivotalconnection, means for securing the end of said keybody to said key face,and a finger portion on said key face overhanging the end of saidkeybody terminating in a downwardly extending spacing and guidingmember.

WILLIAM B. AHERN. ALBERT J WALT.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

v UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,246,998 Pickard et al. Nov.`20, 1917 1,319,801 Schatzel Oct. 28, 1919 1,784,469 Soprani Dec. 9, 19301,890,830 Schlicht Dec. 13, 1932 1,904,768 Rieschick Apr. 18, 19331,984,079 Nelson Dec. 11, 1934 2,117,002 Hammond May 10, 1938 2,220,724Lindeberg Nov. 5, 1940 2,246,371 Lindeberg June 17, 1941 2,250,131Miller July 22, 1941 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 563,740 GermanyNov. 9, 1932 308,131 Italy May 26, 1933 467,783 Great Britain June 23,1937 89,290 Sweden May 19, 1937 351,954 Italy Aug. 27, 1937 357,165Italy Mar. 4, 1938

